History

By Medium

Creators by Comics Age

Editorial and political cartoons have existed for at least as long as the printing press, but reached an apex in the 19th century. It was especially difficult for women to break into editorial cartooning, since women were discouraged from discussing politics at all.

From the Great Depression through the Cold War, the only female editorial cartoonist in the United States was Anne Mergen.[2]

Etta Hulme was the first woman to win the National Cartoonist Society Award for Editorial Cartooning in 1981, and she won again in 1998. Signe Wilkinson was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1992; Ann Telnaes followed in 2001. Lynn Johnston was a finalist for the 1994 Pulitzer for a sequence in her comic strip "For Better or For Worse" that sensitively depicted a youth's disclosure of his homosexuality and its effect on his family and friends.[3]

While most American female editorial cartoonists lean left, Lisa Benson is a Republican who started her career at California's Victor Valley Daily Press in 1992.

Norwegian cartoonist Ellen Auensen began her career in 1968 for Morgenbladet newspaper and is one of three editorial cartoonists (and the only woman) to have been awarded the Narvesen Prize for excellence in journalism, which she received in 1973. Inger Giskeødegård began her career in 1985 and was the first woman to be awarded Editorial Cartoon of the Year from Norsk Redaktørforening (Association of Norwegian Editors) in 2001. Siri Dokken began her career in 1994 and won the Swedish EWK Prize in 2005 and the Editorial Cartoon of the Year award in 2007 and 2011.

Hana Hajjar is a Saudi political cartoonist for the English-language Arab News.[8] Another Saudi cartoonist, Manal Muhammed of Al-Jazirah newspaper, transistioned to cartooning after a career as a painter. Saudi female cartoonists tend to deal with women's issues such as employment disparities and gender roles, though Hajjar also comments on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. An indeterminate amount of Saudi female cartoonists work under pseudonyms and hide their identity completely.[9]

In Egypt, Dooa Eladl is one of the best-known political cartoonists, published in the prominent newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm. She has the distinction of being the first Egyptian cartoonist to face blasphemy charges for a cartoon featuring Adam and Eve.[10]

Palestinian cartoonist Majedah Shaheen was subject to harsh criticism and threats after drawing a cartoon critical of Hamas and its more extremist wing.[11]

Maya Kamath began her career as a cartoonist in 1985 with The Evening Herald, a publication of Deccan Herald group. In later years she worked for Indian newspapers like The Indian Express, The Asian Age and Times of India. After passing away in 2001, the Indian Institute of Cartoonists organized the Maya Kamath Memorial Awards Contest for Excellence in Cartooning for three best political cartoons in India and one for the best budding cartoonist of the year. [12][13]